a big fire jumps from one house to another. right now the flames are out. but the scene is big and causing road closures. also now, southern california on edge. there is now a huge reward in the hunt for a suspected cop killer. that hunt even changed security plans at the grammys. wild weather has millions of people reeling in the south. devastation from a huge tornado and in the northeast. tens of thousands are waking up to bitter cold and no heat. good morning. welcome to "news4 today." i'm eun yang. i'm aaron gilchrist. we have our own weather issues we're dealing with to start the week off. look at storm 4 radar right now. chilly rain falling across the area. meteorologist tom kierein tracking it. >> yeah. it's been moving in since late last night. that rain continues to advance west to east across the area. we have a few pockets of scattered showers now in fairfax county and farther south in the northern neck of virginia all the way to winchester. just scattered showers arlington

and montgomery county. most areas just a few scattered light sprinkles. getting just a few sprinkles in washington. prince george's county, couple of pockets of moderate showers north of bowie and southeast of clinton. from there to upper marlboro and calvert county and southern anne arundel. it's moving off north and east. have an umbrella handy. we'll get passing showers ond an off. it's in the upper 30s in prince george's county. montgomery county, upper 30s. fairfax as well. all above freezing but a chill in the air. you need your winter coat. reagan national at 38 degrees. through the morning hours, this cold rain off and on through 8:00, 9:00. by then in the mid-40s. by noontime, most of it -- maybe the chance of an isolated shower into the low 50s by noontime. hometown forecast for germantown in montgomery county, might have a little sun breaking out with highs reaching the upper 50s. a look at the entire region and into this evening coming up in ten minutes. now, first 4 traffic and how

this rain is affecting your travel this morning. here's danella. >> good morning. as far as traveling along i-270, tom, we're seeing a lot of congestion. normal delays around this time of morning. the good news is no accidents to report. you are slow towards clarksburg. german ton nice and clear. southbound getting by without issues on shady grove. your volume is increasing. i-66, we saw an accident off to the shoulder lane right after -- it's out of the roadway. back to you. breaking news that may impact your commute this morning. firefighters on the scene of a big house fire in northeast d.c. it broke out on field place right along the maryland border. it is disrupting traffic on eastern avenue. news 4s megan mcgrath is live with new information on that. megan, good morning. >> well, good morning, aaron. in just the last couple of minutes, we had improvement in the traffic situation.

officials here on the scene were able to move the hoses that were across the eastern avenue and traffic is moving in the inbound direction here. you can see cars now getting by. outbound eastern avenue, though, still closed. they're still wrapping up a number of hoses. it's going to be a little while before they reopen those lanes. this was a house fire that started early in a vacant house on field place. we're told that they believe the blaze started outside of the home on the back porch area. the flames then spread inside the house to the first floor, went up to the roof and then the flames jumped to a house next door. that house was occupied. there was a woman inside. police officers who were in the area responded to the scene. when they heard the call for the fire, they banged on her door and got her out. there is extensive damage to her home. investigators on the scene trying to figure out what started this fire. again, no injuries. we have a traffic impact. but inbound eastern avenue within the last few minutes did

reopen. that's good news for commuters. this is a major commuter route for a lot of people heading from prince george's county into the district. we're reporting live in northeast, megan mcgrath, news 4. aaron, back to you in the studio. >> thank you, megan. caught on camera, a rare february tornado pummeled several mississippi towns. look at this video from the hattiesburg last night. the national weather service will head there today to survey damage at the campus of the university of southern mississippi. the police report that several buildings are damaged. as many as ten are hurt and thousands are without power. to the north now, there is still a lot of cleaning up to do this morning after a blizzard this weekend from pennsylvania all the way to maine. people saw as much as 3 feet of snow. 134,000 customers still without power. almost all of them in hard-mitt massachusetts. along the coast, high wind and storm surges damaged several homes. the waves are still causing problems for homeowners trying to clean up.

>> sunrise in the morning, big waves. but every once in a while you get hit. >> people in the northeast are not out of the woods yet. ice and freezing rain could move in over the next few days. we have breaking news at 6:05. news 4's angie goff at the live desk. breaking news out of vatican city. the vatican confirms that pope benedict will resign on february 28th. the vatican confirming this information. he made a statement in latin during a small event saying that he does not have the strength anymore. the vatican did not offer any more explanation but once again this breaking news out of vatican city that pope benedict will resign as of february 28th. at the live desk, angie goff, news 4. thank you, angie. president obama will honor a hero from the war in afghanistan. he'll award this man the medal

of honor. he and his fellow soldiers battled hundreds of taliban fighters for more than 12 hours in 2009. eight americans died. romesha will be the only third living member to receive the medal of honor. authorities in california are preparing for another day of searching for a suspected killer. police in los angeles are offering $1 million for information on christopher dorner, an ex-police officer accused of murdering three people. officers surrounding a home improvement store yesterday after someone reported seeing dorner there. investigators believe he's targeting other lapd officers as a revenge plot after he was fired a few years ago. >> 50 lapd families that have not only security but surveillance in and around their neighborhoods. these 50 lapd families are tar fets of dorner's and likely victim. >> the lapd announced it would

reopen its investigation into dorner's firing in 2008. the concern in southern california even led to police adding more security at the grammy awards. several reports say officers were stationed outside the staples center, as well as across the street and checked participant credentials every few minutes. in a manifesto released by police, dorner mentioned multiple celebrities but made no threats against them. >> we'll stay on top of the breaking news. pope benedict xvi announcing he will resign the end of this month. the 85-year-old saying he no longer that is the energy. we're gathering more information on this and we'll have something new after a break. despite security concerns, the grammys did go off without a hitch. ahead, who took ohm home the top prizes at the awards. the country that wants to grille apple about the popular gadgets. cold had morning.

good morning. weather and traffic on the 1s. time this morning to hunt for your winter coat and an umbre a umbrella. only until noontime. few passing light showers. by mid-afternoon, we dry out. temperatures soar into the upper 50s. late afternoon, a little sun breaking out and clearing out tonight. by midnight, our temperatures will be down to the low 40s and then down into the 30s by dawn tomorrow. look at the next seven days. chance for a wintry mix. details in ten minutes. a look at traffic with danella now. >> no reported delays. over to the roadways, down i-95, usual delays out of stafford northbound. pretty slow as you make your way towards 234. no accidents. just delays. a live look in the lorton area. traffic getting by without issues. drive time 36 minutes to get from quantico to the beltway.

continuing on to 395, aaron, no issues to report. over to you. thank you, danella. the music star who channeled forrest gump this year at the grammys. it's very james pond. the futuristic accessory that apple is reportedly working on. we're working on an unprecedented story from the vatican this morning. the pope announcing that he will (woman) 3 days of walking to give a break cancer survivor a lifetime-- that's definitely a fair trade. whoo!

you walk with friends, you meet new friends, and you keep those friendships. it was such a beautiful experience. (woman) ♪ and it's beautiful ♪ undeniable (woman) why walk 60 miles in the boldest breast cancer event in history? because everyone deserves a lifetime. visit the3day.org to register or to request more information today. ♪ burning like a fire ♪ building up from deep inside it was 3 days of pure joy. susan g. komen's investments in early detection and treatment have helped reduce breast cancer mortality in the u.s. by 33% since 1990. help us continue serving the millions of women and men with breast cancer who still need us every day. register for the 3-day now. (woman) it's just been an amazing, amazing journey. i love these people. ♪ and it's beautiful

breaking news at 6:14.

pope benedict xvi is announcing that he will resign at the end of the month. february 28th. saying that he no longer has the strength to complete his job adequately. apparently he says he's resigning with full freedom and fully aware of the gravity of this gesture. >> pope benedict, 85 years old now. he was elected to become pope in 2005 at an elder age. he was the oldest pope to be ee electriced when that happened. if you've noticed. when we've seen him in public, he has at times walk with a cane and with the help of some of his aides. at this point, saying he doesn't believe his health will hold up to maintain this position in the catholic church and in the state that is the vatican. we're hoping to gather more information on this and find out exactly what more is to be said about pope benedict xvi resigning. according to the guardian, this is only the second time a pope stepped down from the

office. pope benedict is 85 years old and apparently you mentioned he's walking with a cane. there's reports that he had trouble reading from the text from an address he read in rome as well. his health is a major concern. but he says he knows the gravity of the gesture. apparently, reports showing that many people, most people shocked and completely surprised, that this came out of nowhere. even knowing about his deteriorating health. >> when he became pope, he said prior to that, he had hoped to be able to retire, again, being at a fairly advanced age. he had hoped that he would be able to retire and so -- i wouldn't say that he reluctantly took the position but certainly he expressed some desire to be retiring at that point. again, the pope saying that he will resign at the end of the month. we want to go to this nbc news

special report good morning. i'm matt lauer. it was announced that pope benedict xvi will resign. he will resign effective. good morning. matt. this came as a shock for all of us and for the billions the catholics around the world. i just got confirmation of that news from the -- from the vatican who said that he made that speech. the pope made that speech this morning during a relatively small event, which was for the -- most towns in the region, in the south and that he doesn't have the strength anymore. i mean, this came as a shock because the pope had the right

to resign. nobody before him, especially considering that he comes after john paul ii, a man at 85 who was able to neither walk or speak really was mumble, towards the end of his life. pope benedict is saying i don't have it anymore. i don't have the strength anymore to bear the -- my mission to carry on the catholic church. >> claudio, is there concern or some speculation that there might be more to the story than that? is there some concern that in fact, there is some health situation that we are not aware of? >> there is a concern. pope benedict xvi has been weak. we never really got his health situation from the vatican. the vatican has always been very secretive about the health of any pope really. we don't really know the extent of the health problems that pope benedict xvi might be suffering right now.

but certainly or hopefully we will get to know much more during the next hours. >> talk to me about how the process unfolds. i any a lot of us are familiar with what happens in the tragic event or unfortunate event that a pope passes away. but what would the process be like now if he has now told the world that he is resigning effective february 28th of this year, how does the process and what is the timing of the process of selecting the next pope? >> well, the process will be exactly the same. we will need to have a conclave. it means that from all around the world they will gather here in rome. they will have to close themselves into the sistine chapel and decide who the next leader of the catholic church will be. of course, the difference here will be that usually when a pope dies, we have the nine days of

mourning. of course, we'll be able to skip that this time. i'm sure that right now all of the cardinals are being called upon to come back to rome and start thinking about who the next pope will be. >> let me make sure i understand what you're saying. does the conclave then begin in advance of the pope actually stepping down or does the conclave begin on february 28th or the 1st of march? >> matt, this is unprecedented. a pope resigning. we need to find out from the vatican exactly what the timing will be. my understanding right now, which is only half an hour after his announcement, is that a conclave will take place immediately after the resignation of pope benedict xvi. we still need to get confirmation. still early hours and an unprecedented decision from the pope. uncharted territory. >> claudio, thank you very much. stay tuned or stay with us for a second. i might be coming back to you. i want to make sure people just tuning in understand the news that we're delivering this more

than. word has come from the vatican this morning, in fact the pope himself announced in latin during a relatively small ser n certificate ceremony that he will resign effective february 28th this year. he's 85 years old and he says he simply doesn't have the strength to do this anymore. george weigel is the vatican consultant. george, good morning to you. >> good morning. >> talk to me about your reaction to hearing this news. >> good morning, matt. it's a surprise. obviously this hasn't happened since 1296, which is 717 years ago. a papal abdication. he was 85 years old too. there's a historical symmetry there. pope benedict xvi has said on numerous public occasions, including his most recent interview book that, were he to

come to the judgment, that he did not have the physical stamina left to give the church the leadership it deserved. that he would abdicate. i think frankly that's the proper word. a resignation is something someone hands to someone else. popes have mo one to resign to. this is an abdication. he has said he would consider this. i'm sure he considered it thoughtfully and prayerfully. it is obviously unprecedented. but i think we all had the sense both from the realities of a world in which people live much longer than before and from the pope's own words that this was a real possibility. i find the timing of this somewhat surprising. >> why? >> since the pope is leaving the church right now through what he

calls a year of faith. a special year devoted to the theological virtue of faith to the proclamation of christian faith throughout the world. i had thought and i believe we discussed this with our colleagues at nbc that were he to abdicate that might come logically at the end of had year of faith. in any event, has happened -- >> george, the timing, does it suggest to you or make you worry that there is something more here in terms of a health issue? >> well, it does suggest to me that he has become much weaker in recent months and he was when he summoned this year of faith last fall. so we will see how the process unfolds. i'm very interested in what claudio said about the conclave beginning immediately, which means all parties will be heading for rome. >> i think what claudio says, he

thought it was perhaps that the conclave would begin immediately after the resignation. noerd, this is not something that would happen in the coming week, it would happen after february 28th. >> that's right. you can't elect a new pope until the present pope departed the scene. >> george weigel on the phone for us with this breaking news out of rome and the vatican that pope benedict xvi will abdicate as george said on february 28th. george, thank you very much. claudio, thank you as well. we're going to have much more on this announcement coming up this morning on "today." i'm matt lauer in new york. this has been an nbc news special report. back here at "news4 today" at 6:24. again, the breaking news this morning. the surprising breaking news out of the vatican that pope benedict xvi will resign at the end of this month citing health concerns. >> that's right. he's 85 years old. he said he will resign at the end of this month on february 28th.

keep it right here on nbc4 all day for updates on this breaking

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woer following breaking news out of the vatican. pope benedict xvi stepping down at the end of this month saying he no longer has the strength to adequately do this job. he says he's resigning with full freedom and fully aware of the gravity of this gesture. >> as we understand it, there was a meeting held. the pope and the cardinals based at the vatican. this morning that meeting was happening. the pope was speaking and in latin told the cardinals who had gathered there that he would be resigning at the end of this month. in the last year or so there have been times when we've seen video of the pope walking with a

cane or with the assistance of his aidess he's traveled the world as the leader of the catholic church and of the catholic faith. at this point, saying that this is just a job that he cannot do anymore and this is unprecedented. weir all trying to figure out now what happens next. what's the precedent for had? it's been not since medieval times that a pope abdicates this position. >> the pope saying that the health issues have become a problem. he's one of the oldest owe-elected in 2005 when pope john died at 84. he is now 85 years old. the question is what happens next? as you mentioned an nbc analyst said this is an abdication, now the process begins. it can't begin until he resigns from office, which is february 28th. >> we remember in 2005 the conclave that happened. angie goff is trying to piece

together where we go from here. >> aaron, thank you. the moment the news probing, everything is blowing up online. people are in total shock about this announcement. we heard from the news correspondent in rome saying that that is the initial reaction that catholics around the world cannot believe a decision like this would be made so soon. keep in mind, this decision comes a couple days before ash wednesday. the pope is expected to step down february 28th, which is in the middle of length. had we talk about what's next, that's the big question on everybody's mind. the selection process is actually going to be pretty much the same as when we have a pope pass away. a conclave will have to take place. all of the cardinals around the world, they will come to rome and gather to decide their next leader. but the difference that we will see is that we won't have that nine days of mourning. the mourning that's involved whenever a pope passes away. they're going to be able to skip that. the other question, will this process take place before february 28th.

we're hearing from officials that that is not the case. they have to wait for the pope to resign at the end of the month before they can begin that process. you mentioned that this is something that has not happened in recent times. the last pope to resign was back in 1296 when pope celestin the v resigned. >> we'll stay on top of this story. the pope's resignation and bring you the latest as we gather the information. >> tom kierein is here. off to a wet start. all the roadways are wet. we've had overnight rain and it's tapering off across virginia now am just a few scattered sprinkles across virginia. right in washington, getting light rain. prince george's county, a few pockets of moderate rain. and far south -- eastern, southwestern prince george's from clinton to waldorf, la plata getting a few of those. this is moving to the east. we'll still have a few scattered light showers between now and perhaps early afternoon.

and it's chilly. we're just in the mid and upper 30s. it's above freezing in the metro area. farther south and east, in the 40s. southern maryland, northern neck. west, panhandle of west virginia, most locations there, as well as western maryland in the mid-30s. later today, the rain tapered off. maybe a little sun breaking out in the afternoon. highs reaching the upper 50s. 30s tomorrow morning. sunny and breezy near 50. a wintry mix on wednesday might get snow, sleet and perhaps cold rain. don't see much of any accumulation of any snow. sun back on thursday and friday. over the weekend, perhaps a few scattered flurries and colder weather for the weekend. back in ten minutes. now, danella has a look at first 4 traffic. good morning. from twitter, a tweet came in from wise guy, 9321. tweet said iverson street is closed both directions between branch to 28th. this is avenue. so it's a broken utility pole. pepco is on the scene.

use caution. shutdown this that area. let's talk about delays. that time of more than. traveling the beltway, this time on the outer loop of the beltway at university boofd. delays from i-95 prior to georgia avenue. no reports of accidents. traveling 395, heavy on the brakes in the beltway. as you make your way toward seminary road, that's where you're sluggish. past seminary past the 14th street bridge. not terrible yet. it will take you 17 minutes to get from the beltway to the 14th street bridge. aaron. thank you, danella. 4,000 people aboard a cruise ship stranded off the coast of mexico are awaiting for a tugboat. there's a tugboat headed toward the cruise ship triumph. it's 150 miles from the yucatan peninsula. it's running on emergency power. another cruise ship there as well with supplies. the next two trips next week for the triumph are canceled.

a mine explosion in russia killed at least ten coal miners. this happened northeast of moscow. officials say the explosion might have been caused by a buildup of methane gas. nine workers are missing and four escaped to the surface. today the white house will get more input from law enforcement agents on how to crackdown on gun violence. vice president joe biden will travel to philadelphia for a roundtable discussion about gun safety. law enforcement agents will be a part of that meeting. so will congressional leelders from pennsylvania, as well as deputy attorney general james cole. the vice president has been the obama administration's point person for the debate over gun control in recent weeks. a 12-year-old was taken into police custody after sending a threatening e-mail to school administrators. police in san diego say the 7th grader wrote an e-mail saying he planned to shoot and kill a teacher and 23 other students. after identifying the student, police confiscated several rifles, hand guns and computers from the boy's home. the boy is currently being

evaluated. no one else is believed to be involved in that threat. police in chicago say they are making progress in finding out who murdered a 15-year-old who performed at the inauguration here in d.c. hadiya pendleton was shot days after returning from her trip to d.c. >> first lady michelle obama attended her funeral on saturday. president obama will be in chicago on friday to speak about the ongoing gun violence. at this time, no formal charges have been filed. virginia governor bob mcdonnell will try to sell his transportation plan to people in our area. he'll be at mcclain to lay out the impact his plan will have on northern virginia. the governor wants to eliminate the commonwealth's gas tax and raise its sales tax to generate billions of dollars for transportation projects. his proposal would also raise vehicle registration fees. senate democrats blocked the plan last week but the house signed off on it. a senate committee will take up the house version of the bill.

gas prices continue to rise toward $4 a dpal. the national average for a gallon of gas $3.58. seven cents higher than a week ago. d.c. drivers paying $3.77. an increase of 7 cents. virginia at $3.46 on average, up 6 cents. maryland, 6 cents higher as well than a week ago at $3.59. in west virginia, only up a penny compared to last week. drivers paying $3.65. crews in laurel are working to fix a water main break that residents were complaining about brown water. the leak started near van duesen and virginia manor roads. crews closed the roads to work on the damaged pipes. officials expect the leak to be fixed sometime today. in the meantime shall the water is safe to drink but should not be used to make baby formula or wash dishes. we, of course, are staying on top of the breaking news this morning from the vatican. want to show you live pictures there now as the pope has

wrapped up a meeting with the cardinals and has told them that he will resign from the papacy on february 28th at the end of this month. >> much more on that story on news 4. tom is tracking this chilly rain. weather and traffic on the 1s next. ♪ [ male announcer ] from our nation's networks... ♪

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we're following breaking news right now at 6:40. pope benedict xvi has announced he will resign at the end of the month on february 28th, citing health reasons, saying he no longer has the strength to adequately carry out his duties. this is the first time since 1415 that a pope resigned from his duties. an nbc analyst saying this amounts to abdication and that the papacy will remain vacant until someone else is elected. >> we're keeping a close eye on the vatican and on churches in

our area as they get word on what happens happening in vatican city and reacting to this news. we want to go to the newsroom now. angie goff is at the live desk. we're getting actual language that we are hearing from vatican city on had, right, angie? >> right, aaron. not only language but video to share with you. this just into the news 4 newsroom. video of pope benedict xvi announcing that he will resign at the end of the month. the 85-year-old told a small crowd that he just doesn't have the strength anymore to serve. he's often been seen walking with a cane and what you're watching now is before that announcement he actually led this intimate group with a prayer. moving over to that statement, he talked about not having the strength, which is what we've been reporting so far. but he also showed a little bit of appreciation. he said i thank you most sincerely for all the love and work with which you have supported me in my ministry and i ask pardon for all my defects.

let us entrust the holy church to care for our supreme pastor, our lord jesus christ and implore the mother mary to assist the fathers in electing a new supreme pontiff. now with that, the next question is, where do they go from here? we're hearing from the nbc experts that they will have a conclave will take place. something that happens when a pope dies. they will be able to skip that nine days of mourning but all the cardinals from around the world will gather in rome to elect the next supreme leader. reporting from the live desk, angie goff, news 4. >> angie, thank you. let's they can in with meteorologist tom kierein for our forecast around the region. tom? >> still raining lightly. quarter of an inch of rain overnight. continuing to move west to east. scattered showers in the district and into montgomery county. however, prince george's county, it's coming down a little harder there. still steady rain there as well as in charles county, calvert,

anne arundel. it's moving to the east. temperatures all around the region are in the mid and upper 30s in the metro area. it's milder to the south in the 40sment southern maryland, northern neck through central virginia. throughout the day, a nice warmup coming. we ought to hit the upper 50s by mid-afternoon. by then all the rain will be ended and maybe sun breaking out and clearing out. by midnight, our temperatures back down to the low 40s. then cold oar weather moves in tomorrow and maybe a wintry mix after that. details, seven-day outlook in ten minutes. danella with a look at first 4 traffic now. >> good morning. still checking from twitter. i confirmed this. if you're traveling along -- it's between branch avenue and 28th avenue because of downed wires. please use caution if that's your trip. checking on delays in the area. 50 in maryland, slow from the beltway past landover road to new york avenue, you're sluggish. checking for accidents in both directions, inbound and outbound on 50. not seeing any. rail delays, metro, vre, no

problem. on the marc train, 892, a seven-minute delay. aaron, over to you. breaking news overnight here at home. firefighters on the scene of a big house fire in northeast d.c. this broke out on field place right along the maryland border. news 4's megan mcgrath live with the latest. >> reporter: this fire broke out in a vacant house and spread it a house occupied next door. i'm going to step out of way. you can see the scene behind me. they still have smoke. they're still hosing down this home. although, we're not seeing flames at this point. just a lot of smoke. they've been able to move a lot of the hose lines, a lot of the emergency equipment here. that's good news for commuters. both direction ares of eastern avenue were shut down earlier. at this point, inbound reopened. outbound still closed. although it looks like they're getting ready to pull up stakes and that will reopen very soon here. this fire began early this morning. investigators believe it started

on the back pour of outside this home. this two-story home on field place. it's then extended inside the home and to the roof and the flames jumped to a home located next door. there was a woman inside at the time. police officers in the area came to the scene, they banged on the door, they woke her up. she got out okay. was not injured. again, still traffic impact here eastern avenue inbound. it's open but outbound still closed at this point. reporting live in northeast, megan mcgrath, news 4. aaron, back to you >> megan being thank you. police are preparing to continue their manhunt for an ex-police officer suspected of killing three people. los angeles police issued a $1 million reward to anyone with information on christopher dorner. investigators believe this surveillance video shows dorner throwing away a gun. police uniform and other items after shooting two people last week. dorner was fired from the force a few years ago and police believe that he's targeting other police officers as

revenge. >> he essentially communicated his sense that the people with whom he had a grievance were fair game and so were their families and so were any other police officers on or off duty. >> police believed they had a lead on him yesterday when they surrounded a home improvement store but the tip was incorrect. dorner may be on the run but he's attracted the attention from at least one hollywood star. charlie sheen reached out to the ex-lapd cop pleading with him to call him so they can "figure out together how to end this." he mentioned sheen in his manifesto saying the "two and a half men" star was awesome and he made mention -- what caused a helicopter to crash. three people died. the crash happened early sunday morning while the crew on the chopper was shooting video for a new discovery channel reality show. the headquarters are in silver

spring, said the video was for a military-themed show that hasn't been announced yet. police are offering $25,000 to anyone who can help solve the murder of a 71-year-old woman. officers say they found 71-year-old geraldine joyce mcintire suffering from trauma to her body inside her capitol heights homement she died at the hospital. mcintire lived with her daughter and they were both disabled. if you have any information about in crime, please contact prince george's county police. a former army staff sergeant will be honored for his heroism in -- he will be given the medal of honor. only the fourth service member to receive the medal. he will receive an honor tomorrow night. as well, he'll sit with the first lady -- he will be a guest of the first lady at the state of the union address. this morning, we're learning more about what the president

will say in tomorrow night's speech. according to "the new york times," he'll call for a reduction in nuclear arsenals around the world. the white house says the president will not give specifics on the issue, but he'd like to see the number of weapons reduced to about 1,000. there are about 1700 weapons right now. the president also expected to focus largely on jobs and the economy. for more on that, here's courtney reagan at cnbc. good morning. >> good morning, eun. wall street will be watching when president obama gives the first state of the union address of his second term tuesday night. he's expected to push his economic agenda. with a continued focus on job creation. president president will reportedly outline spending initiatives for energy, education, manufacturing and rebuilding the nation's infrastructure. he'll then head out on a three ln day road trip to sell the ideas to the public in north carolina, georgia and his home state of illinois. back to you. courtney, thank you. caught on camera, a rare

february tornado barrels through several mississippi towns. take a look at this video from the town of hattiesburg last night. the national weather service will head there today to survey the damage at the campus of the university of southern mississippi where police report that several buildings were damaged. as many as ten people were hurt and thousands are without power. the blizzard of 2013 has passed, but there's a lot of digging out to do in parts of the northeast from pennsylvania all the way to maine. millions saw as much as 3 feet of snow. 134,000 people are still without power. most of them in hard hit massachusetts. along the coast, high winds and storm surges damaged several homes. the waves are still causing problems for homeowners who are trying to clean up. >> sunrise in the morning, big waves. but every once in a while you get hit. >> people in the northeast aren't out of woods yet either. ice and freezing rain could move in over the next few days. >> transportation leaders say air and train service will be

back to normal by the end of today. new york, boston and connecticut slowly restoring flight service. they say flight schedules are close to normal. amtrak trains are running limited service between new york and boston. boston's t system is back open for the morning commute. going to be a long time. we got gusty winds from the storm owe over the weekend. it was 500 miles away from us. give you an indication how big it was. now the weather has changed completely from what it was over the weekend. we've had a cold rain moving in. there's capitol hill. we got a wind out of south that will will shift a bit into the southwest later today and warm things up. well, there's the rain that has come on through overnight. now, it's generally tapering off west to east. we have a possibility of a few scattered showers into the

latter part of the morning. few light rain, sprinkles in southern loudoun county, western, fairfax to prince william, stafford and spotsylvania. east of there in montgomery county, prince george's, light rain. heavier rain in the darker greens and yellows. across the bay to the eastern shore. temperatures are chilly. but above freezing. we're in the 30s all around the metro area. that includes all of northern virginia. most of maryland, northern neck, it's into the mid and upper 40s right now. some milder air moving into the mountains too. by 8:00, 9:00, 10:00 or so, it's tapering off. maybe a chance of isolated shower. it's going to be into the low 50s and hometown forecast for springfield in fairfax county by mid-afternoon soaring to the upper 50s. maybe a little sunshine breaking out and that's going to be true for the whole region. later today maybe a little sun in the afternoon, upper 50s. overnight tonight, will turn a bit colder. down to the 30s tomorrow

morning. a blustery wind out of the north and west on tuesday with highs around 50 and sunshine. wednesday could get a wintry mix of snow, some sleet, some cold rain. right now, any snow, light accumulation. on thursday, the sun comes back, as well as on friday. highs 40s near 50. colder weather for the weekend. chance of flurries saturday and sunday. highs in the 30s. danella with a look at traffic now. good morning. >> good morning. seeing delays along i-270. heading up together. first delays out of frederick. solid delays through germantown. closer to the lane divide, there is an accident. you can see it blocking the left center lane. police are on the scene and delays are growing. expect delays, i-270 southbound this morning. soon they're going to connect all the way between frederick and toward the spur. let head over to i-395 here. heavy on the brakes at edsall. no accidents northbound. just delays. to get to the 14th street

bridge, the drive is going to take you 22 minutes. over to the rails. brunswick east train number 892, still dealing with a seven-minute delay. the metro, vre, no delays at this time. thanks, danella. we're following breaking news. pope benedict xvi announcing that he will step down from the papacy at the end of this month on february 28th citing his failing health. he said he does this and makes this decision full of freedom and fully aware of the gravity of this gesture. he says the decision is of great importance to the life of the catholic church. >> we're getting a trans lafgts statement he made in latin to cardinals gathered at the vatican this morning. i'll pair trace. he said in order to govern both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength has deteriorated in me to the extent i have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me. for this reason, with full freedom, as eun said, he

declared that he would renounce the ministry as the bishop of rome. shocking the catholic faithful around the globe this morning. >> a surprising decision. this is the first time since 1415 that a pope has resigned. pope benedict xvi taking the papacy in 2005 after john paul ii died at the age of 84. and this pope was one of the oldest to be elected in 2005 at 78 years old. he is now 85. again, citing that he does not have the strength anymore to fulfill his duties adequately as the pope. >> if you look at this video here, in the last year or so, we have seen the pope at times walking with a cane and with the help of the aides who surround him as he travels the world. that is a huge part of the job of the pope to travel the world as an ambassador if you will of the vatican and of the catholic church. he has said that his physical ability does not allow him to continue to do the job. there have been some reports

coming out of family members saying that he had been -- the pope had been told by doctors that he should reduce, if not completely stop traveling transatlant transatlantically and around the globe. he's citing health reasons for wanting to leave the papacy and the catholic church going to have to figure out what happens next. it's been 600 or so years since they've had this sort of change in hip to happen. >> earlier this morning on a special report, an nbc analyst said that this resignation amounts to abdication. >> which is a term we typically hear with royalty. >> it sets up the stage for conclave before the end of the month to elect a new pope. what this means, because pope benedict xvi is alive, he will have some influence on who becomes the next pope. >> he very likely could. when he became pope in 2005, he said that he had expected at the age of 78 to be able to retire

and to live out the rest of his life as sort of a church elder, if you will. someone who might be looked to for advice. but certainly not to be moving into such an extremely powerful leadership role. but he did accept the responsibility and the catholic church will tell you that he has held up to that responsibility quite nicely over the time that he's been pope. >> the pope has said that this has been a great year of faith for the catholic church. pope benedict xvi taking the reins during a difficult time, when he was dealing with the allegations of child sex abuse from catholic priests. he was dealing with that. he even apologized to some of the victims. this was a very difficult time but also a time when he said he was hoping to return faith to o the catholic church, getting more young people back to the catholic church as well. >> we, of course, have reached out to the catholic church here in the d.c. area, cardinal -- leading the catholic church here, catholic university as well here in our area. but as you might imagine,

everybody is waking up to hear this news. it's well into the afternoon in rome. but here in the states, people are waking up to this shocking news about the pope's resignation. so we will of course, throughout the day be getting reaction. be getting some idea of what will be happening next in terms of our community dealing with this surprise news. >> again, pope benedict xvi resigning at the end of this month on february 28th citing health reasons. but saying that he's fully aware of the gravity of his decision. the "today" show is staying on top of this story with bureaus london and italy as well. we're going to have, of course, their coverage coming up in a couple of minutes. that does it for "news4 today." thanks for starting your day

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